Dept. of Justice investigating Tiller murder

From Reuters:

The Justice Department said it would investigate whether Tiller's murder violated a 1994 U.S. law that establishes penalties for violent or harassing acts toward abortion providers.

Kansas authorities have charged Scott Roeder with murder in the Sunday shooting death of Tiller in his church.

Ted Stevens walks

The Justice Department is dropping all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) due to prosecutorial misconduct.

NPR broke the story this morning.

A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, however, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial.

According to Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors.

The judge in the Stevens case has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he's called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the office of public integrity. That's the department's section charged with
prosecuting public corruption cases.

Uh... what?

I don't know how to break this to you, Fredo, but you are the "problems with the Justice Department."

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, under congressional pressure to quit over the firing of nine U.S. prosecutors, vowed on Monday to stay and fix problems with the Justice Department.

In testimony prepared for a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Gonzales acknowledged the Justice Department has been shaken by accusations that partisan politics played a role in hiring practices and the administration of justice.

"There are two options available in light of these allegations," Gonzales said. "I could walk away or I could devote my time, effort and energy to fix the problems."

"Since I have never been one to quit, I decided that the best course of action was to remain here and fix the problems."

In other news, Osama bin Laden vows to improve radical Islam's image problem in the United States.